ICC Women's World Cup: Preview of all the eight teams participating in the tournament
When the world is busy revelling in the massive success of the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy 2017, England is all set to host another major event in the history of the sport. The eleventh edition of the ICC Women’s World Cup is all set to commence in less than a week’s time with the home team taking on India in the inaugural match at Derby.
Away from all the attention and the glaring eyes of the media, the top eight women's teams in the world cricket are toiling hard with their preparations and will be gunning for the coveted trophy in the most prestigious tournament of Women's cricket.
Also read: ICC Women's World Cup 2017 Schedule: Full time table with venue details, PDF download
Here is the preview of the eight teams participating in this iconic tournament.
Australia
The formidable Australian outfit will enter the tournament as the defending champions and one of the firm favourites to lift the title. With Meg Lanning at the helm, the side looks solid on paper with a nice blend of youth and experience.
The fortunes of the team with the bat will be heavily reliant on the performance of the skipper and the experienced middle order batsman, Alex Blackwell. Lanning is known to lead from the front and is expected to play a crucial role in giving a stable base at the top of the order for her side.
While the batting unit looks settled, their bowling department is one of the best in the tournament with Ellyse Perry leading the attack. Megan Schutt will partner the all-rounder in sharing the new ball attack for Australia.
Despite being plagued by injuries for the past 12 months, Schutt has recovered completely and will be raring to hit the ground running in this edition of the tournament. The right arm medium pacer has some wonderful memories of the last World Cup campaign as she was the leading wicket-taker in the tournament.
Relying heavily on swinging the new ball on conditions conducive for fast bowlers, she could well be on the course of repeating her last edition heroics.
Squad: Meg Lanning (Captain), Sarah Aley, Kristen Beams, Alex Blackwell, Nicole Bolton, Ashleigh Gardner, Rachael Haynes, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Belinda Vakarewa, Elyse Villani and Amanda-Jade Wellington